Sarri Accepts His System Is Chelsea’s Problem As He Hopes To Turn Things Around

Chelsea boss, Maurizio Sarri has accepted that his team's style of play is one of the club’s problem following a recent run of poor form that has seen them lose five times already in 2019.

The Blues have lost 2-0, 4-0 and 6-0 in the Premier League to Arsenal, Bournemouth and Manchester City respectively and were eliminated from the FA Cup by Manchester United on Monday following a 2-0 defeat at Stamford bridge.

Fans of the London club have turned on the team as they protest the unacceptable performances with some calling for the Italian to be sacked.

There are reports that Sarri has just the next three games(Europa League round 32 tie against Malmo, Carabao Cup final against City and a Premier League clash against Spurs) to save his job.

But Sarri is hopeful of being Chelsea manager for much longer even though he accepts his tactics are not being interpreted well enough by his players.

"The system is the first problem. I know very well that when we lose, I have to put a striker on the pitch; when we win, I have to put a defender on the pitch. But I want to see football in another way," he said.

"It's not very easy [to improve] because we have no time, but we are trying to solve our problems. It's not easy because on the pitch we have no time at the moment, but we are trying to talk to the players, to avoid some mistakes by video. It's not easy. We have to play every three days.

"I have to think we are able to improve, and we are able to improve immediately. The result is not all in the match.

"In the last match, we played better, especially in the first half. We have to solve a big problem because we stayed in the other half for 75 minutes and we were not able to score. They played only 15, 16 balls in our box and scored two goals, so we have to solve this problem, probably a problem of aggression and determination in both boxes.

"At the moment, we are making mistakes with a lot of players. Everybody is sooner or later involved in a mistake. We need more to change the mentality than the players.

"I have to think I will be the manager of Chelsea for a long time, otherwise I cannot work. I am not sure because I have to work, and I want to work with a long-term target."

The 60-year-old does not think of this as the most difficult time of his managerial career, citing Italy's lower divisions as the place he had it tough the most.

"Not at all. I had a lot of problems in the past, especially in [Italy's equivalent of] League One, League Two - it's very difficult to be a coach in Italy in League One or League Two."

Sarri who disclosed that he has not had any conversation with Roman Abramovich or director Marina Granovskaia this week accepts the fans anger after the thrashing from City at the Etihad Stadium, but he maintains Chelsea were much improved in their loss to United.

"I think the problem is the performance and the result against City," he said. "We played very badly. We played without mentality, without soul. For that match, I think they are right.

"I don't agree for the last match because we played a good match, especially in the first half. In the second half it was more difficult, they are a physical team and defended very low, very compact, so it's not easy. We played well."